One hundred years ago, an unknown Belgian priest arrived at St Edmund’s College with an extraordinary idea – that the universe itself had a beginning. An article, published in the Catholic Herald, tells the story of alumnus Georges Lemaître’s time in Cambridge and his collaboration with mathematical physicist Sir Arthur Eddington, a partnership that would change our understanding of the cosmos forever.
When Lemaître arrived, accommodation was found for him at St Edmunds House where records of his time there remain today and are prized by the University. Lemaître sought and found two other Catholics there in order to have daily mass. Dr Simon Mitton, life fellow of St Edmunds College at Cambridge University, committed Catholic, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a tremendous writer in the history of astronomy has found Lemaître’s old chair which now bears his name. It remains in the possession of the Catholic chapel in the college as a memorial to his time there.
Next time you’re in the Chapel, see if you can spot the chair.
